A Blossoming Friendship(Of Sorts)
by puppyduckster
Summary: A brief study into the evolution of the relationship between Josie Pye and Anne Shirley Cuthbert during the seasons of Anne with An E. Also posted on AO3


_Disclaimer: I do not own Anne with an E. Please also note that this story contains spoilers for Season 3 of Anne with an E. _

_Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It's splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world."- Lucy Maud Montgomery._

* * *

When Josie Pye first met Anne Shirley, she did not believe there was anything particularly remarkable about the girl. Anne was a small scrawny twig of a girl with the most awful red hair in two very unbecoming braids. Her complexion didn't do anything good for her and Josie was mildly disgusted at her shabby and unfashionable dress she wore. Taking pride in one's appearance has always been extremely important in Josie's family and Josie was well aware that in order for her to have a good husband and a good home, she had to look and dress the part. At that moment, the Anne-girl chose to take a deep breath and say in a quick halting sort of manner, "It is a scrumptious pleasure to make your acquaintances and I shall do my utmost to prove myself worthy of your friendship." Josie scoffed to herself when she heard what Anne said and didn't feel much of it when she made a pointed comment on how Anne clearly enjoyed showing off her apparently impressive vocabulary. Diana Barry however seemed to have taken quite a shine to their new classmate and as Josie quietly assessed the looks of Tillie, Ruby, and Jane it didn't exactly look as though they were entirely against the idea of Anne joining their circle of friends. Josie did her best to suppress a long drawn out sigh. If she was going to have to spend time with this dreadful orphan girl of all people, she didn't see her life turning out the way her parents had so carefully planned. And Josie Pye didn't like that idea at all.

* * *

Anne Shirley-Cuthbert soon proved to be a bit more than what Josie Pye had suspected her of being. When Anne began blathering on about Prissy Andrews and Mr. Phillps, Josie couldn't believe the words that were coming out of her mouth. She couldn;t begin to imagine how Anne could possibly spread stories of such filth. Her opinion of Anne hadn't much improved especially when Anne had the audacity to walk to school with Gilbert Blythe of all people. The fact that Anne most likely had no idea who Gilbert was or that Ruby Gillis liked him was of no concern to Josie. Later she even had the idea to even smash the slate across Gilbert Blythe's head simply because he was making a few teasing remarks. Josie couldn't help but feel confused and angry. Why couldn't she just take a joke once in a while? Josie herself would've been thrilled to receive any of that attention from the boys in the school and for Anne to react in the way she had was quite simply mind boggling to Josie Pye. Even more astonishing was when Anne actually openly defied Mr. Phillips and left school in the middle of her punishment. Josie was of the many who stared in open mouthed shock and horror as Anne stormed out of the schoolhouse. When Josie Pye later recalled the incident to her parents over a dinner of steak and potatoes, they were quick to share her opinion.

"This is what happens when we allow orphans in our midst. For heaven's sake I knew the Cuthberts didn't have their heads on straight when they decided to take the girl out of the asylum where she clearly belonged," Father said. Mother immediately nodded in agreement.

"Josie," she said turning slightly to face her only daughter. "Promise me you'll do well to stay away from that Shirley girl. She cannot be a good influence on you."

"I understand completely Mother," Josie agreed. It was true. In that moment Josie Pye really and truly could not comprehend exactly how Anne Shirley managed to end up in their tiny town of all places.

* * *

Later the fire ended up making the townsfolk and Josie saw Anne in a whole new light. Josie herself hadn't been present during the fire, but Diana Barry and Ruby Gillis later told all the girls in the schoolhouse of Anne's bravery. Apparently Anne had actually run into the fire without any care for herself and opened all the windows so the fire would have less reason to spread. Josie couldn't help but feel rather impressed about Anne's heroics although she quickly tried to suppress those feelings when they popped up. It wouldn't do to admire the piece of trash after all. Still, when Anne finally came back to the school after Ruby Gillis had finally moved back into her house, Josie found herself not minding the redhead's company as much as she thought she would. It didn't mean they were friends though. Of course not.

* * *

Mrs. Pye had always stressed upon how important it would be once Josie began reaching the age of womanhood. When Josie had finally started her woman's cycle a few months before, her mother had sat her distraught daughter down and immediately explained how Josie was finally starting to become a woman. From then on Josie began taking even more pride in her appearance. She made sure her hair was tightly curled every day and her dresses were both clean and beautiful. During school hours Josie began noticing the other boys starting to take notice of her new looks and attitude which made Josie feel rather pleased with herself. Seeing as she was likely to marry one of the many boys in the schoolhouse, it was best for them to see firsthand exactly how mature she was. Being mature seemed to be yet another thing that was a foreign concept to Anne Shirley-Cuthbert. Josie couldn't begin to fathom how Anne could've ever thought it was a brilliant idea to complain so openly about her cycle where the boys could clearly hear her. It only made Josie regret ever agreeing to spend time with the orphan girl and once again she would wish that Prissy Andrews or one of the older girls would invite her to spend time with them. Surely it would be better than talking with Anne of all people.

* * *

Several months had passed since Josie Pye had first met Anne Shirley-Cuthbert and the two girls had settled into a forced truce of sorts. Neither girl could call the other a bosom friend or a kindred spirit, but for the sake of their other friends they would at least try to have some form of a friendliness when they spoke to one another. It never did much though. Anne quite often got infuriated with Josie and Josie in turn would mock Anne about being an orphan or how she was so clearly lacking in the many prospects that would be available to Josie as an adult. It was also around this time that Josie began noticing Cole Mackenzie. After the harvest had ended he had come back to Avonlea School looking more like a man than he had before he left. He was much more quiet and gentle than Billy Andres or one of the Pauls and Josie found herself wishing that he would notice her like she did for him. Still nothing had yet to come out of it. A few days ago Anne, Diana, Tillie, Jane, and Ruby had all abandoned their old lunch spot to come and eat with Cole who admittedly looked somewhat happy to have their company. Josie watched them feeling an odd sense of confusion, anger and a bit of loneliness. For a brief second she defeated joining them, but decided it would be best if she pretended that Prissy Andrews had invited her to eat lunch with her and her friends. Much to Josie's dismay Cole never did seem to catch onto Josie's feelings for him. He ignored her attempts to defend him against Billy whenever he was being too mature, he was unable to understand when she was flirting with him,and perhaps worst of all he was willing to spend more time with Anne than her. The idea alone made Josie feel sick to her stomach. Josie had practically everything a boy would want. Clothes. Pretty appearance. A good family. Wealth. Whenever she thought of the last conversation she and Cole had something in her heart stung.

"_Don't you like girls," she had scoffed unable to understand why Cole wouldn't just kiss her. Surely it wouldn't have been all too bad and it wasn't as though Josie was asking for his hand in marriage._

_He looked at her for a second before saying bluntly, "I don't like you."_

Fine. If Cole wanted to be that way let him. Josie really didn't care less anymore she told herself firmly. She'd be much better off with somewhat like Billy Andrews. At least he understood how wretched Anne could be at times. In fact when it came time to spin the bottle and Cole and Anne had been chosen to kiss, Josie found herself joining in with the boys teasing them and calling them freaks. She ignored Diana and Jane's shouts of anger and dismay and refused to acknowledge she felt anything other than satisfaction at seeing the looks of hurt and embarrassment on Cole and Anne's faces.

* * *

Once Josie turned sixteen her mother began even more stressed out about her appearance and place in society. She made Josie spend more time with her hair and encouraged her to allow Billy Andrews to walk her home whenever she had the chance. Josie didn't mind any of this. Billy was handsome, rich, and he seemed to like her as much as she liked him. Josie enjoyed being liked after all and she had to admit that she liked seeing the looks of envy on the other girls' faces when she discussed her intentions with Billy later on in her life. Things on Josie and Billy's end had been going near perfect until the dreaded day at the county fair had arrived. For a while Josie and Billy had simply spent their time dancing with everyone else in the barn. Josie had found herself enjoying simply being able to dance and laugh with the others in the room. She had been somewhat surprised when Billy asked her to meet him outside, but agreed nonetheless. Nothing could happen of it. How naive she was. At first when Billy had kissed her, Josie felt a pleasant tingle go down her spine. As far as first kisses went, Josie supposed hers was sweet and pleasant. It wasn't until Billy had started to become more forward with her that Josie became uncomfortable. It wasn't right, she thought as Billy tried to force her from getting away with him. She felt her hair becoming slightly mussed up and it only made her more intent on getting away with him. Josie had stumbled back into the barn feeling hurt and confused which was likely what made her drop her guard slightly in front of Anne as she quickly fixed Josie's ribbon. Josie hadn;t been able to spend much time at the barn after that. She began noticing how the others were pointing and whispering at her and Josie had fled out of the barn in order to prevent hearing anymore of what they said.

* * *

Josie would've been content with letting things go away on their own, but of course Anne had to have other ideas. The article Anne had published in the paper never actually mentioned Josie by name, but Josie knew exactly who it was referring to. She had run out of the church in tears and much to her dismay, neither of her parents were able to comfort her. Her father seemed more intent on fixing things with Mr. Andrews and Mrs. Pye was insistent that they did their very best to win Billy back as soon as they could. _Win him back? _Josie thought as she cried into her mother's arms. Why on earth would she want to do that? All she had wanted was to forget the incident had ever happened, but Anne had seen fit to ruin her life and make her trash like she was. Anne had come by briefly to apologize but Josie had slapped her before Anne could've said anything. All the anger and hurt and embarrassment had bubbled to the surface and Anne had soon left without any bit of forgiveness coming from Josie's part. Still she hadn't expected Anne to come back to her house and this time truly apologize. At first Josie had debated slamming the door in Anne's face, but something about her words and facial expressions had stopped her. "_Nobody but you is allowed to dictate what you are worth," Anne said._Even after Anne had left upon hearing Josie's refusal to join them at the town hall, those words still stuck themselves in Josie's mind. She did deserve better didn't she? Billy had wronged her and Josie didn't deserve to feel the way she did. These thoughts spiraled through Josie's head as her mother put her hair into the rag curls and once she left, Josie quitely defied her mother for the first time and removed every single one of the rags from her head. She stared at herself in the mirror feeling just a bit braver than before. She felt even more brave when she was able to turn Billy away when he came to apologize to her. Truth be told Josie wasn;t even sure he meant the apology and even then he didn't seem the type of boy she would have liked to marry in the end. It was perhaps this sort of new found bravery that allowed Josie to sneak out of her house and go to the Town Hall. She had felt out of place when she first entered and wondered if it would have been better for her to go back home. To her surprise and pleasure however Anne had broken into a smile when she saw Josie and immediately beckoned her to come forth. The two girls smiled at each other and when Josie slipped her hand into Anne's she finally felt a true sense of friendship between them. It was unlikely that Anne and Josie would ever become bosom friends like Anne and Diana were. But this, Josie thought as she stood hand in hand with Anne Shirley-Cuthbert was certainly a momentous step in the right direction.


End file.
